Water-jet apparatus



P 1933- HEIDMANNY 2,131,660

WATER JET APPARATUS Filed Sept. 22, 1937 Patented Sept. 27, 1938 & Ateliers de Constructions Electriques de Jeumont, Societe Anonyme, Paris, France, a French joint-stock company Application September 22, 1937, Serial No. 165,211 In France September 29, 1936 3 Claims.

The present invention relates to a water-jet apparatus of which the nozzle is maintained at the surface of the water by a floating body capable of sinking automatically to the bottom when its utilization is terminated.

It is applicable in particular, for providing during the night, luminous fountains at the surface of a river which during the day must be rendered free for the needs of navigation. In this case, the floating body may. support the source of light and all necessary equipment and mechanism, in addition to the nozzle.

In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying drawing which represents three examples of carrying out the invention.

Figs. 1, 2 and 3 show the three forms of fountain structure floating awash at the surface of the water.

Fig. 2a shows the fountain structure of Fig. 2 in the submerged condition.

The improved apparatus shown in Fig. 1 comprises a floating body constituted by a vessel 1 carrying at the upper part a tube 2 for the passage of air. The vessel l supports a jet-nozzle 3 connected to the source of water under pressure by a movable piping l, flexible or jointed. Upon the nozzle 3 (or upon the piping 4) there is provided at 5 a tube feeding an ejector 6, the suction of which is connected to the lower part of the vessel I.

The operation of the improved nozzle-carrying apparatus is the following: I

When the whole is floating normally and the Water-jet is in action, the water pipe 4 being under pressure feeds the ejector 6, which action maintains the vessel I empty of water, the air therein being maintained at the atmospheric pressure by the action of the tube 2. Flotation thus ensured.

Immersion is produced automatically when the jet of water is stopped, from whichmoment onwards the water pipe 4 is no longer under pressure. The ejector 6 ceases to operate and water penetrates into the vessel 1 by the orifice of the said ejector, while air escapes by the tube 2.

When the level of water reaches the base of the tube 2, namely at A, the air ceases to escape.

Now, the length of the tube 2 has been determined in such a way that the flotation ceases to be ensured from that moment onwards. In these conditions, the whole sinks to the bottom while the level continues to rise in the vessel and the air becomes compressed. The level becomes fixed at B, such that the pressure ofthe compressed air equals the atmospheric pressure increased by the piezometric pressure at B.

" Immersion is produced automatically as soon as pressure is re-established in thewater pipe 4.

At this moment, in fact, the ejector 8 returns into operation and gradually 'empties the'vessel l of its water, in spite of the small inflow of' water which takes place" through the tube 2.

When the level comes below A, the flotation is ensured and the whole rises up to thesurface.

The ejector continues'its operation and. completely' empties .thelvessel' While the air penetrates through the tube 2.

Ballast or other known. means can be provided to ensure the stabilityof the whole, both when submerged and when on the surface.

A normally open cock I placed upon the air tube 2 allows, when it is closed, of maintaining the vessel afloat in spite of the stoppage of the water-jet.

It is permissible, without departing from the scope of the invention, to provide modifications behaving in practice in the same manner as the example of construction described above; in particular, it is possible:

- (a) In order to accelerate the emptying of the vessel, which produces'the immersion, to arrange in parallel with the ejector a second ejector of greater power which is only brought into action forthe raising operation. As shown in Fig. 2, the vessel I, provided with the air tube 2, nozzle 3', water pipe 4, tube 5, and ejector 6, as described with reference to Fig. 1, is also provided with a second or supplementary ejector 8 of greater power than the first ejector 6. This second ejector 'is'fed by the intermediary of a cock 9 which is controlled-by a float l0 carried by the vessel;

this cock is shown diagrammatically as a threeway cock, which directs the water coming from the water pipe 4 either towards the supplementary ejector B, or towards the jet-nozzle 3, according as the vessel is submerged orawash. Fig. 2 shows the vessel at the surface, the float It maintaining the cock 9 in position for feed- I ing water to the jet-nozzle 3 and to the ejector 6; Fig. 2a shows the vesselsubmerged after stoppage of the water supply, the float l0 therefore acting to turn the cock 9 into position for feeding the supplementary ejector 8, so that as soon as the water supply pressure ism-established in the water pipe 4, the ejector 8 will operate to empty the vessel I of its enclosed water, the

immersion therefore taking place more rapidly than with the single small ejector 6 provided in the construction shown in Fig. 1.

(b) In order to simplify the construction, to utilize the water-jet itself as ejector. Fig. 3 shows this form of construction, the vessel I being provided with the air tube 2, nozzle 3, and water-pipe 4, as described with reference to Fig. l; but instead of the ejector 6 fed by a tube 5, the water jet is itself used as ejector by arranging a suction tube I 3 extending from near the bottom of the vessel l to an ejector chamber I4 surrounding the upperend of the jet nozzle 3.

What I claim is:

1. In water-jet apparatus of the character de scribed, means for controlling the flotation of the apparatus, comprising a jet-nozzle, a hollow body adapted to support said jet-nozzle at the surface of a sheet of water, means for supplying water under pressure to said jet-nozzle, an air pipe entering said hollow body, the outer end of said air pipe being above said surface when said body floats with said jet-nozzle upwards, said hollow body having an orifice opening below said surface when said body floatswith said jet-nozzle upwards, and means for driving water out of said body by the operation of said water-jet.

2. An automatically submersible water-jet apparatus, comprising a floating vessel, said vessel having an orifice below the surface of the water in which said vessel floats, a water-jet nozzle carried by said vessel, a pipe supplying water under pressure to said nozzle, an air pipe entering said vessel, the outer end of said air pipe being above the surface of the water in which said vessel floats, the inner end of said air pipe so located as to trap air within said vessel when water enters through said orifice, an ejector adapted to discharge water from said vessel through said orifice, and a branch pipe feeding said ejector with water under pressure during the supply of water to said nozzle.

3. An automatically submersible water-jet ap-i paratus, comprising a floating vessel, said vessel having an orifice below the surface of the water in which said vessel floats, a water-jet nozzle carried by said vessel, awater-pipe adapted to supply water under pressure to said nozzle, an air pipe entering said vessel, the outer end of said air pipe being above the surface of the water in which said vessel floats, the inner end of said air pipe so located as to trap air within said vessel when water enters through said orifice, an ejector adapted to discharge water from said vessel through said orifice, a branch pipe feeding said ejector with water under pressure during the supply of water to said nozzle, a supplementary ejector adapted to discharge water from said body during submersion, said supplementary ejector being of greater power than the first mentioned ejector, means including a threeh Way cock for feeding said supplementary ejector with water from said Water pipe, and a float carried by said vessel, said float controlling said cock to direct the water'from said water pipe to said supplementary ejector when said vessel is submerged and to said Water-jet nozzlewhen said vessel is awash.

LEON HEIDMANN. 

